A Public Debate
This unique collection of words (an essay?) is potentially serious and is not intended to catalyze controversy. I am, after all, a humble hemp-inspired jester, but, already, I digress...
This essay deals with paralysis; more specifically, it deals with my personal experiences as a complete level C-4 quadriplegic spinal cord injury for thirty-two of the fifty-four years of my life, so if this doesn’t interest you, then there’s really no need for you to participate. Again, this is not a divisive issue. It is merely the way I view the imposing world’s haughtily looking down upon my anxiously looking up.
I have kidney problems. One of ‘em is practically dead; the other is overworked. I recently had a(n?) UTI that actually frightened me. I had a serious conversation with Death. I know... I am hardly the only one who has had this conversation. I imagine that every cancer survivor might be thinking, ‘‘Welcome to the club,’’ or, more likely, ‘‘Big farkin' deal,'' right? Point is that I recently went to the Emergency Room expecting not to come out, and, again, I went in because of an ass-kicking UTI. In fact, the ER doctor called it ‘‘the mother of all UTIs.’’ Additional I was dehydrated, feeling like I’d been savagely masticated by a ravenous feral canine then defecated over a cliff onto a pile of sharded glass and rusted barbed wire, but I digress…
Be that as it may, the doctor was one of the sweetest doctors on the planet. She’s German, and she was simply sweet... did I mention that already? Anyway, she encouraged me to drink liquids to replace electrolytes... ‘‘sport drinks.’’ She also very strongly suggested that I drink cranberry juice; however, and this is very important: drink 100% cranberry juice with no additives, and only drink 2 or 3 ounces a day... no more. Unfortunately, I forget why I shouldn’t drink any more than 3 ounces, but it seems really important not to drink too much. I am haunted by images of fatal consequences if I don’t strongly dissuade you from drinking too much cranberry juice, so keep that in mind as you digest this essay’s message.
BTW, the ER doctor—did I mention how sweet she is—also strongly suggested that cranberry juice—the 100% real, bona fide cranberry juice—also counteracts the pathological agents, whatever they are, that encourage UTIs, which, if I’ve interpreted the good doctor correctly, suggests that cranberry juice can help prevent UTIs. (It’ll be interesting to hear any commentary about the boons and banes of cranberry juice from people with skills to credibly validate or refute my personal experience.)
FYI, drinking 2 to 3 ounces of pure cranberry juice isn’t as easy as it may seem. It is bitter, and I’m talking about the kind of ‘‘intense bowel-constricting acrid intensity’s tightening your anal sphincter so implosively that you can defecate diamonds’’ kind of bitterness. Obviously, the benefits of drinking cranberry juice outweigh the discomfort of a mouthful of ephemeral unpleasantness, but I digress...
I have been drinking about 3 ounces a day for about a month and a half, and I feel great. Of course, I have also been eating better and am still recovering from that nasty UTI, so it is impossible to give cranberry juice any credit in my feeling any better than I did just a few weeks back, still... I ‘‘feel’’ that the cranberry juice is helping.
I will continue to monitor the situation as objectively as I can. But now, to the gist of this public debate...
You may recall that the aforementioned ER doctor—I'm not sure, but did I mention how sweet she is—strongly suggested that I drink ‘‘sport drinks’’ with electrolytes and zero sugar. (I forgot to mention that I am diabetic. What did you expect? I'm fat and sedentary.) And she told me to drink a lot, so I did.
Now, this ain't no ‘‘shot’’ against PowerAde Zero, but what I am about to rhetorically relate to you is the truth and may be helpful to someone down the line.
Again, this has only recently happened and is based on personal experience. It does not follow any scientific methodology, and it is totally subjective. Also, and more importantly, I am nearly always influenced by the effects of medicinal botanical pharmaceuticals. Still...
I found that drinking PowerAde made me feel energized. Again, I can in no way directly credit the ‘‘sport drink’’ with my feeling better because so many things happened simultaneously, and the sweet doctor's insistence that electrolytes may very well improve my personal circumstance
must
be affecting my objectivity, and...
I will continue to monitor the situation to better assess PowerAde’s effectiveness as an anodyne, but,,,
I may have gone overboard with my drinking too many PowerAdes a day, so this may very well be a matter of moderation, but PowerAde has, for me, a lot of salt. I don't recall, off hand, how much sodium is in a bottle of any ‘‘sport drink,’’ but one can easily look up that information and decide if the amount is reasonable for her salubrity. I only mention it because salt has always been my friend. Sugar has kicked my ass, but I have never thought of salt as a potential enemy. She's always been my favorite condiment on french fries. I’ve always used it in moderation. However, my blood pressure spiked... dangerously... and suddenly, yet when I stopped PowerAid cold turkey, my blood pressure slowly returned to normal. The questions I have now: How effective are electrolytes? How much a boon is cranberry juice? And is there a ‘‘sport drink’’ with electrolytes and no sugar and no salt? Or is that even possible… to have electrolytes without salt?
Again, there is no way that this is a scientifically credible experiment. In fact, this entire theme is laughably puerile, an experiment conducted by a poet's asking credible science to verify or reject my artistic impressions; although,... it can, hopefully, be the catalyst that motivates someone with the skills and passion to investigate the resulting possibilities using scientific methodology and potentially saving lives in the near future.
Peace Through Music
P.S. - Does this wheelchair make my butt look big?
#Wheelchairistocracy #GroovicusMaximus @frangeladuo
